Polish Resistance: Behind the Screen

Well, our group has been focusing on our rotating DM-ship WFRP campaign, such that we probably won't be playing Polish Resistance again any time soon.  As such, I've decided to post my notes from the game, to show how I run a sandbox and also in case anyone out there is looking to run a WWII CP2020-based game and is looking for material. So here they are:

Polish Resistance Sandbox Notes

These notes grew step-by-step over the 7 sessions, and whenever I had an idea, I added it.  There's a lot more here than I ever used, but I guess that's the thing about world-building: once you get started, it's hard to stop!  My New Tilia notes look similar, though a lot smaller.

Anyway, here are descriptions of the contents, sheet-by-sheet:

• Cities- my game map for this was in google maps, which doesn't have any clear boundary, so I made a list of the main locations of interest near the PCs.  There are also a few other potentially interesting locations, in case the players got their hands on an airplane.
• Sandomierz- detail of the city of Sandomierz
• Room Generator- this was in case the characters explored the dungeon underneath the city.
• Organizations, NPCs- Lists of NPCs and their affiliations
• Oracles- a random event generator based on In a Wicked Age oracles.
• Missions- a random mission generator.
• Encounters- a random encounter generator.
• Goodies- a treasure generator.
• Hirelings- potential Allies and their stats.
• Combat Stats- Stats of various friends/foes.
• Equipment- Stats for WWII-era equipment

Anyway, that's the material I used to run the game, besides a few blog posts which never got copied to the spreadsheet.  I guess I'm a little surprised that you don't see more game products in this sort of format.

Polish Resistance Character Generator

Combat Cybermodem: never write code without it!

Well, I put those Netrunner skills to work and made a character generator for Polish Resistance.  All it took was a bit of elbow grease and 450 lines of JavaScript.  The link is here(it's a little slow, give it a few seconds to run):

CREATE ME A POLISH RESISTANCE FIGHTER

And if WWII era Poland isn't your thing, but you'd still like to use CP2020-light to run a game, the generator is configurable.  First make a copy of the generator to your own Google Drive.  Then, in your copy modify the skill and equipment lists to fit your game--no additional programming required :)

Here are the character creation rules for comparison.

And a couple sample characters I generated:

Sandomierz Megadungeon Architecture

Old Town, Sandomierz

Nathan & noisms recently linked to a Megadungeon design guide. Some of the great maps there gave me the dungeon design bug, so I threw together the map below.  Basically I took a tourist map for the Old Town of Sandomierz, highlighted the relevant buildings for Polish Resistance, and added a side-view of different dungeon sections.  It starts with the Basement Level but then goes deeper.

I'm not sure exactly how to make this work with the Ad-Hoc Dungeon Generator.

Oh, and Life immitates Art.  Apparently the Old Town really does have an extensive tunnel system up-to 12m deep in some parts.

Roving Cultist Thugs

Appearing: 
3d4 Thugs
1d2 priests
1d10 zombies(when appropriate)


Thug
Thugs are fanatical and will fight-on despite serious injury as long as they are in the presence of a Priest.  In this case, they get a +5 to all Cool/Stun checks.
INT 4 REF 5 COOL 6 TECH 2 BODY 6 EMP 7 LUCK 5 MA 8
Skills:

• Pistol 8
• Brawling 4
• Dodge 4
• Awareness/Notice 4
• Disguise 3
• Occult Knowledge 3
• German 5

Equipment:

• Slightly archaic Germanic villager clothes
• M1879 Reichsrevolver or Mauser 1910(25ACP)
• 1d10 archaic coins
• crimson rider tattoo

Priest
INT 8 REF 3 COOL 4 TECH 2 BODY 4 EMP 9 LUCK 5 MA 8
Skills:

• Pistol 3
• Occult Knowledge 7
• Cultist Rituals 7 
• German 6
• Control Zombies 8(roll of 20 on 1d10+EMP+8 controls 1d10 zombies)

Equipment:

• Hooded robe with crimson tassel.
• Silver Crimson Rider necklace
• M1879 Reichsrevolver or Mauser 1910(25ACP)
• 5d10 archaic coins
• crimson rider tattoo 

The Order of Four and Eight

Among the Dominican Monks of Sandomierz, is a secret order of 12 monks.  This secret society was formed after the killing of Sadok and the 48 martyrs by the Mongols in 1260.  They are sworn to protect the monastery and it's interests.  Whenever a member of the order dies, a new one is enlisted from within the monks of the Monastery.

It is rumored that the Order still exists to this day, and that they know the location of the Coronam Mortis, since they were sworn by Jan Brozek himself to keep it safe.

The Four

INT 8 REF 9 COOL 5 TECH 2 BODY 4 EMP 4 LUCK 5 MA 8
Skills:

• Garotte 9
• Dodge 4
• Hide/Evade 8
• Awareness/Notice 7
• Stealth 8
• Tracking 5
• Disguise 5
  

Equipment:

• Habit
• Prayer Beads Garotte(1d6+1+BODY dmg bonus choking per round until dead)
• Pocket Bible
  
• Chain Mail Vest(SP 10 on torso)
  
• Nagant M1895 revolver w/ 7 holy silver bullets

The Eight

INT 3 REF 8 COOL 8 TECH 2 BODY 8 EMP 3 LUCK 5 MA 8
Skills:

• Pistol 8
• Dodge 4
• Awareness/Notice 4
• Stealth 4
• Intimidate 8
• Endurance 5
• Swimming 4
• Brawling 3

Equipment:

• Habit
• Prayer Beads
• Pocket Bible
• Chain Mail Vest(SP 10 on torso)
• Nagant M1895 revolver w/ 7 holy silver bullets

The Twin Crowns of the Shrine of Blessed Sadok

Coronam Vitae

Local historians may be familiar with the rather curious 17th Century account by the well-known Roman Catholic Cleric-Scientist Jan Brozek, during his visit to the Dominican Monastery in the town of Sandomierz, just prior to the Fire of 1603.  In it, he mentions a pair of ancient crowns, different from one another as night and day, yet mystically related.

Description

Coronam Mortis

The first crown, which Brozek refers to as Coronam Vitae, is similar in description to the Berliner Goldhut.  Near it's base, Brozek describes what appears to be a Norse Leben-Rune.

The second crown, referred to as Coronam Mortis, is a simple iron-band-type crown, rust-eaten and bent, similar in style to the Deal Warrior Crown.  On it's base is apparently a Norse Toten-Rune.

Legend holds that they were possessed by a cult of pre-Druidic sorcerers, who used them to attain eternal, yet infernal, life.  The details of the repellant ritual are forgotten among civilized men, but with it's completion, the sorcerer, wearing the Gold crown, would force his mind into the body of a younger person, wearing the Iron crown.  The sorcerers old body would then be killed, along with the young victim's mind residing in it. In this way, the sorcerers would leap from body to body, generation after generation.  Legends even detail sorcerers using this method to inhabit the bodies of animals and there are even hints to more exotic types of victims.

History

Brozek relates the history of the crowns as the Dominicans reported to him.  The Order had originally acquired the crowns, for a very reasonable price, from a Jewish moneylender in the 14th century.  The moneylender had himself only recently collected them from the estate of the unfortunate, and rather disreputable Duke Frederick of the House of Metzengerstein, after the abrupt passing of the Duke and all his known kin.

It is unclear, how the crowns came into the Duke's possession, but judging by his families evil reputation for dabbling(and more than dabbling) in the occult, it is not surprising that such an artifact would end up in his collection.  In fact, before their untimely demise, the House of Metzengerstein had quite an extravagant reputation for queerness, and the local peasantry would whisper that they were to blame for the occasional disappearance of their children.

Given the evil reputation of the crowns and their former owner, the Dominicans were happy to acquire the artifacts, thus ridding the world of their unholy influence.  They first attempted to melt them down, but they were protected by powerful pagan magicks.  As such, the Order was content to shut them away safely in the monastery's vaults.

Jan's Dillema

The crowns remained safely forgotten until the early 17th century, when a self-proclaimed heir to House Metzengerstein appeared with his servants at the doors of the monastery, requesting to buy-back the crowns in an attempt to repurchase his family's lost heirlooms.  His appeals were rejected by the stalwart monks, but he later returned with a Royal Directive to allow him to repurchase the crowns for a fair price.

Not wanting to release this ancient evil again upon the world, the monks called for advice from the renowned Jan Brozek from the Krakow Academy.  Jan relates his plan, that the a replica quickly be commissioned of the Coronam Mortis. The replica, as well as the original Coronam Vitae, which could not be so easily duplicated, were sold to the heir of Metzengerstein.  The original Coronam Mortis, was secreted away to a more secure location, in case the forgery should be discovered and a royal order be made to search the monastery.  Brozek doesn't recount where the crown was moved to, but he assures the reader that:

"I was accompanied by a dozen stout-hearted monks on the most harrowing journey of my life.  It took all of our faith and courage to survive the ordeal, though ten of our number truly did not survive in body.  The thing is surely safe now, beyond the realm of mortal man, and their petty, sinful aspirations.  Indeed, it's new protectors know no fear of man, and bow to no Human liege."

However scholars suspect that this record is a screen to set searchers for the crown on the wrong track.  Rather, they suspect that the crown is still hidden in the vicinity of the Old Town of Sandomierz. This is supported by the records showing that Brozek could only have been in Sandomierz for a few days, and by his party having been waylaid and searched in vain by the Metzengersteiners upon leaving the town, by his own account.

Captain Dmitri Cherevichenko

The son of Siberian peasants, Dmitri rose in the ranks due to his loyalty to the cause, his natural toughness and his innate cunning.  As a Squad Commander he led his troops quite successfully, always ambushing, outmaneuvering, our outwitting the enemy.  He was promoted to Platoon Commander, but was less successful in directing larger numbers of troop.  With the invasion of Poland, he was reassigned to be the Liaison of Foreign Partisans in the Sandomierz area.

His current duties are to be in touch with Polish Resistance members in the area, coordinating their activities with Russian troops and even assigning them specific missions when the need arises.

Madame Ling's House of 1000 Shadows

Madame Ling runs an Opium den out of a shambling campus of interconnected, run-down buildings/apartments, buried in a local slum.  Her customers include, soldiers, civilians, and even public figures intent on keeping their patronage secret.

Special Services

Madame ling is a mysterious personality with much insight into human nature.  In addition to her normal services, she is willing to offer special concoctions to customers with the need and means to pay for them.

For the type of concoction, use these tables, based on noisms' wonderful tables here, but modified for a modern CP2020 setting.

Colour

Roll a d8 to determine the poppy's color: 

1 - Blue

2 - Red

3 - Purple

4 - Yellow

5 - Brown

6 - Green

7 - Black

8 - White

Type

Roll a d4 to determine the type of drug which the poppy can be used to produce:

1 - The poppy is a Depressant, i.e. one which diminishes sensation.

2 - The poppy is a Stimulant, i.e. one which increases alertness or awareness.

3 - The poppy is a Hallucinogen, i.e. one which causes hallucinations.

4 - The poppy is a Nootropic, i.e. one which enhances the functioning of the brain.

Means of Ingestion

Roll a d6 to determine the primary means of ingestion:

1 - The poppy is crushed and then made into tea.

2 - The poppy is crushed and then smoked in a pipe.

3 - The poppy is crumbled, wrapped in paper, and smoked like a cigarette.

4 - The poppy is crushed and snorted.

5 - The poppy is crushed, mixed with the blood of an animal, made into tablets, and swallowed.

6 - The poppy is crushed, mixed with the blood of an animal, then injected with a syringe.

Effect

Roll a d4 to determine the specific effects:

For Depressants:

1 - The poppy deadens fear. The character gains immunity to all forms of fear, spook and similar for 1d12 hours.

2 - The poppy deadens pain. The character need not make stun checks when injured.  They must still make checks for death for mortal wounds.

3 - The poppy deadens the mind, and prevents the effects of illusions and other mind-affecting magic for 1d12 hours.

4 -  The poppy lowers the blood flow and slows the spread of poison. Equivalent to a slow poison spell. Lasts for 1d12 hours.

For Stimulants:

1 - The poppy prevents sleep. The character can stay awake for one night and the next day without suffering ill-effects, but must make a resist poison check of difficulty 20 the following night or collapse from exhaustion for 12 hours.

2 - The poppy stimulates the senses. The character can make a skill check for awareness/notice etc. at a +5 for d12 hours.

3 - The poppy boosts energy. The character gains +2 to body for d6 hours.

4 - The poppy boosts the body's natural healing. Wounds are healed at and additional 1 point/day for the next 4 days.

For Hallucinogens: 

1 - The smoker's consciousness leaves his body, and his spirit may travel through the spirit world to spy on goings-on elsewhere. Equivalent to the wizard spell clairvoyance.

2 - The smoker's consciousness leaves his body and he gains the ability to communicate with the Elephant God. He may ask three questions of the deity, which it is said will tell the truth five times out of ten, tell a lie four times out of ten, and refuse to answer once. Once all three questions have been asked the smoker enters a fugue state for the remaining duration.

3 - The smoker forgets the last 1d10 hours completely

4 - The smoker trains with the originator of an obscure martial art in the spirit realm.  Now has a skill level of 8 in it.

For Nootropics:

1 - The poppy boosts memory. All knowledge-based skill-levels are doubled for one day. 

2 - The poppy boosts human perception checks by +5 for d6 hours.

3 - The poppy boosts judgement. The character has a 25% of automatically detecting lies for d6 hours.

4 - The poppy improves concentration. Dodge/Evade checks are +5 for next d12 hours.

Addictiveness

Addictiveness is a function of potency. Roll a d20 to determine potency. There is a flat 20% of addiction on first taking a dose of a poppy, + potency score. (Thus, there is a 34% chance of becoming addicted to a poppies with a potency of 14.) On a successful Resist Poison of difficulty 20, this is halved. The second time a dose of the poppy is taken 10% is added to the chance of addiction, and for every additional dose thereafter. 

An addicted character must have a dose of the poppy every day from that point on, or suffer -1 to all stats that day, and -1 cumulatively for each day thereafter. If any stat reaches 0, the character dies. After 2d6 days, if the character is still alive, the addiction breaks.

Cost

Cost per dosage is generally 10 units of currency per point of potency.

Inspector Konrad Czacki

A skilled police detective, Inspector Czacki is a veritable bloodhound of the Sandomierz Police Force.  He appears in civilian clothes except at official police functions.  His skills are well reputed among the police force and he has access to considerable resources, though he prefers to use his own intelligence over brute force.

INT 10 REF 8 COOL 8 TECH 7 BODY 4 EMP 2 LUCK 2 MA 8
Skills:

• Find clue 10
  
• Detection/Deduction 10
• Locate Suspect 10
  
• Interrogation 9
  
• Follow Unnoticed 8
  
• Streetwise 7
  
• Pistol 6
• Fencing 8
• Boxing 6
• Dodge 7
• Hide/Evade 6

Usual Equipment:

• Trenchcoat
• VIS Pistol(45 ACP 3d6+2)
• Magnifying glass
• Police Badge 

Sometimes the inspector's vanity gets the better of him.  On a natural 1 or 2 on a Deduction check, the inspector will make a deduction that is patently, even absurdly false.  He will be unpersuadable that he made a mistake unless presented with direct evidence to the contrary.

Old Town Resistance

Lubomir and his gang have been around.  They resisted the Nazi occupiers quite effectively, but they had already honed their skills previously on outsiders poking their nose into the business of the Old Town.

Lubomir
At a spry 41 years of age, he is the group's leader.  He is a master planner and strategist.  He always carries around the MP40 he took off the body of a Nazi officer, concealing it under his jacket.
INT 9 REF 9 COOL 8 TECH 8 BODY 5 EMP 5 LUCK 5 MA 8
Skills:

• SMG 6
• Melee 7
• Dodge 6
• Carpentry 8

Usual Equipment:

• Highly Polished Oak Table leg(Club 1d6)
• MP 40(32 bullets)
• Heavy Leather Jacket(SP 4)

Florian
He is the youngest member of the gang, at 36 years of age.  He is a master boxer and wrestler, but he is especially deadly with his brass knuckles.
INT 4 REF 10 COOL 8 TECH 2 BODY 10 EMP 1 LUCK 5 MA 8
Skills:

• Boxing 9
• Wrestling 8
• Dodge 8

Usual Equipment:

• Brass Knuckles(1d6+2)

Gustaw
A hunting enthusiast, he is the oldest member of the group at the age of 56.  He is a crack-shot with his crossbow and deadly with his hunting knife, besides.
INT 8 REF 10 COOL 8 TECH 5 BODY 8 EMP 6 LUCK 5 MA 8
Skills:

• Archery 9
• Melee 8
• Dodge 5
• Tracking 8
• Taxidermy 6

Usual Equipment:

• Crossbow(12 bolts 3d6)
• Hunting Knife(1d6)
• Heavy Leather Jacket(SP 4)

The group may drum-up a mob of 2d6 other Old Towners for their activities.  Their standard stats are:

Standard Mob Member
INT 5 REF 5 COOL 3 TECH 3 BODY 5 EMP 5 LUCK 5 MA 8
Skills:

• Melee 5
  
• Dodge 3
  

Usual Equipment:

• Torch
• Axe(2d6+3)
• OR Sledgehammer(4d6)
• OR Club(1d6)
• OR Pitchfork(1d6)

Polish Resistance: Session 7

Session 7 was a very investigative session, not much combat.  Mostly the players interacted with various factions in the city and started to learn about some of the politics and intrigue going on.  Shmengy had his own business to attend to(his player had twins yesterday!) so it was just Andre and Leora, making friends and enemies in the city of Sandomierz. 

Going into the session I had no idea which way it would go.  Would the party start doing missions for the Russian Army?  Would they keep working independently, capturing more war equipment to sell to the Russians?  Would they look into the strange happenings in the Old Town? Would they get caught-up in some randomly-generated hook?

Session Summary

Session 7 started where Session 6 left off in the afternoon of August 31, 1944: with the party talking to Chief Quartermaster Yuri Leonov, who had just given them a civilian car as a reward for the captured armor they brought-in.  They planned to meet with Field Marshal Vladimir Yurlovich in the morning, so they decided to seek out an inn in the Old Town near where they would need to meet the Field Marshal.  They also wanted to check at the local telegram office in the morning to see if Andre's cousin might have managed to get a message through to there.

In the inn, they quickly found out that the Old Towners were wary of outsiders(but willing to take their money).  They managed to learn that outsiders occasionally disappear in the Old Town.

This gave them cold feet about the inn and they decided to seek out Waldemar Lubomir in the newer part of town.  Waldemar was heartbroken to hear that his fiance was dead, but he did his best to support his fellow resistance members.  He put them up for the night and gave them information:

• The party should tell someone in the Russian High Command about what they know about the zombie origins(he could recommend them to the Russian Liaison for Partisan Activities)
• Just before the Russians conquered the city, a group of German troops was escorting a couple strange robed figures around the Old Town.  The party's description of a robed figure creating the zombies reminded him of this.

In the morning, the party returned to the Inn for breakfast and information.  They learned that the Old Towners have strange burial traditions and don't like outsiders asking about their basements.  The tavern wench Ludmilla agreed to show them her basement(with it's special burial crypt) for money during her afternoon break.

They then went to the Town Hall to meet the Russian commander.  They were shown to a waiting room full of Russian officers and Polish officials waiting for appointments with the Field Marshall.  After two hours of waiting and being unable to get the Aide to admit them(though he assured them they need only wait a little longer) the party left to meet Ludmilla.  She:

• showed them the stone coffin-like crypt in her basement
• told them about the local customs for burial and All-Hallows Eve
• confided to them that the spirits are real and must be appeased and that no Old Towner will go into their basement at night
• advised them not to investigate further as other outsiders like them have disappeared after investigating too much about the spirits
• admitted that the Nazis had brought robed men who wanted to investigate people's basements, but that the Old Towners had given them the run-around, showing them only basements where the spirits were less active.

The party searched for funeral notices at the local churches and found two.  They decided to break into those house's basements tonight.

They returned to the inn to rest, but the owner told them he didn't have rooms for curious outsiders anymore.  Andre refused to leave, so the police were summoned and arrested them.  A sergeant warned the party that they mustn't incite the Old Towners and that if he caught them doing so again he would throw them in Jail.  He wasn't an Old-Towner himself, but apparently the police have a de facto agreement with the Old Towners that outsiders are not permitted to investigate their rituals.  He also said that if the Russian Command gave them a letter giving them permission to go-on with their investigations, then the police would have no choice but to respect it.

Andre was getting fed-up with all the different factions in the city giving him the run-around, and decided to try and solve things with his fists.  He knocked-out the sergeant, returned to the Inn in uniform, claiming to have been deputized, arrested the Innkeeper, brought him back to the interrogation room, knocked him out too, and then dressed him in the Sergeant's uniform!  The party then returned to the Inn, entering without anyone seeing, and slept undisturbed until nightfall.

When the party left at nightfall, the innkeeper was being tended on a couch, apparently by his wife.  He was surprised to see them there and cursed them as they were leaving.

The party broke into one of the basements of the houses for which a death notice was posted.  They spent an uneventful night there, finding nothing unusual in the basement or with the recently deceased body.  The session ended there, on the morning of Sept 1, 1944.

They planned that next session they will spend another night in another basement, in the hope of finding a more interesting one.  But first they wanted to try speaking to the Russian Field Marshall.

Superstitions of the Residents of Old Town Sandomierz

The Old Town is a remnant from the middle-ages in the heart of the small but modern city of Sandomierz.  The residents have a number of practices and superstitions unique to the area, which appear to date back, in some form or other, to the earliest settlement of the city.  These practices, which generally revolve around the basements of their residences, are generally not well-known among the general populace, who reside in the newer neighborhoods of town.  That said, the superstitions do occasionally come to light, for instance when a city project to renovate the lower-levels of one of the local churches was nixed due to "strong opposition by local residents".

Burial

The most unusual practice is perhaps the burial traditions in the Old Town.  Each home in the area has a small stone vault built in the basement.  When a family member passes-on, their body is interned in the vault for a period until the body decomposes, and only the bones are left.  The bones are then relocated to one of the city's local cemeteries.

Recently, a Doctor, having recently moved to the city and heard about the tradition, noted that the interment period was too short for such complete decomposition to take-effect.  Rumors began to fly and the locals lengthened the interment period surreptitiously.  The public quickly lost interest in the scandal.

Renovation

Residents of the Old Town of Sandmierz do not allow renovation of the town's basement level.  In the case where new residents moved in and wanted to renovate, these plans were not approved by the city-planning board due to the strong objections by their neighbors.

One local historian speculates that this is due to the basement-level being afforded a semi-reverential status due to it's use in the burial process.  But wilder explanations are whispered by the more imaginative.

Night Time

Residents of the Old Town will only enter their basements during the day-time.  Even then, they do not dally there.

All Hallows' Eve

Residents of the Old Town have an interesting variation of the All-Hallows' Eve tradition.  The afternoon before, they slaughter an sheep, chicken, or other small animal and leave it in their basements as an "offering to the spirits".  In the morning they bring up the left-over bones and show them to their children, telling them that the spirits have been appeased.

Rumors

Adventurers entering Sandomierz may hear a number of rumors, but they will really have to investigate a lot to find out these traditions in all their details.  Some initial rumors they may hear from non-residents include:

• The municipality is located in the Old Town, but all those people live in other neighborhoods.  In the Old Town it's all old timers. 
• The people in the Old Town are an old, superstitious bunch.  They are not friendly to strangers.
• Old Town residents are so un-friendly, if you want to see the inside of their houses, you'll have to break-in through their basement windows!
• A friend of mine once made the mistake of going to the Old Town on All Hallows' Eve in search of treats.  Finding the streets empty, he peeked into a basement window.  He won't tell what he saw, but he refuses to set foot in the Old Town anymore.
• The lost treasure of the Polish kings is buried in the labyrinths under the Old Town.  The locals are a stingy bunch and they don't allow any excavations in the area.
• The captain of a small boat once found a small cave by the riverside.  He and his three crew-members entered and found a labyrinth of tunnels running under the Old Town.  He came out alone, a broken man, and disappeared soon after.
• Don't walk alone in the Old Town at night.  People have been known to disappear there from time-to-time, without a trace. 
• Some strange men had been seen hanging around the Old Town, asking to inspect residents' basements for rats.  After several rejections they haven't been seen since.

Ad-Hoc Dungeon Generator

So I've been working on an Ad-Hoc Dungeon Generator that can be used to create a dungeon room-by-room and corridor-by-corridor during play.  The dungeon in question is under a particularly old part of a relatively modern city and comprises the basement-level of the city and various caves and catacombs beneath.

Generator Table

Whenever the party investigates a room/corridor, the DM rolls 5d10 corresponding to the first 5 columns.  The 6th column is for if the party searches for secret doors.  The 7th column is a sub-table of an entry in the 5th column.  Also I reference a few other tables not included here.

	. Structure Size Style Additional Exits(Room) Contents When searching, is there a secret exit to be found? Something Significant . 1-5 Room 1-2 Small 1 Natural 1-4 0 exits 1-2 Furniture 10% yes 1-2 Standard Denizens(See Sub-Table) . 6-10 Passage 3-4 Medium 2 Man-Made 5-8 1-4 exits 3 Trash 3 Strange Denizens(See Sub-Table) . 5 Large 3-10 Same as Last 9 1d10 exits 4 Natural Formations 4-5 Trap(See Sub-Table) . 6-10 Same as Last of same type(Room/Passage) 10 2d10 exits 5-6 Mysterious signs of denizens 6 Magic(See Sub-Table) . 7 Goodies(See Sub-Table) 7-8 Benign Location(See Sub-Table) . 8-9 Something Significant(See Column 7) 9-10 More than one Something Significant(See Sub-Table) . 10 More than one Contents

Example

 

Here's a sample map I generated, one room at a time, to try-out the generator.

 

Room 1: The party begins in a dark, musty basement, where they fail to find anything unusual.


Room 2: In the second basement they investigate they discover two secret doors in the walls.


Room 3: One leads to a clearly man-made corridor, containing poisonous fungus and completely blocked by an abnormally large rat's nest at the end.


Room 4: The other leads to a small secret, hexagonal room with a stone pedestal in the middle of the floor.  Five man-man passages, large enough for a man to crawl through, extend from the 5 sides(including the passage you entered through.  Peering inside, the two in front of you extend a long way, while the right-most extends only 20ft or so.  The left-most seems to enter another room.  Absolute silence reigns.

Room 5: The party opts to go one-by-one into the room to the left.  It turns out to be diamond shaped, about 40ft by 30ft, clearly man-made.  The walls are covered with strange patterns of pink and green lichen.  Two narrow, but heavy-wooden doors appear in the opposite walls.  The wood appears quite old and brittle.

Room 6: The party listens at the right-most door of Room 5.  It is jammed so they break it down and find a small man-made room with no exits.  A small raised section of stone floor is in the opposite corner.  They search, find nothing, and listen at the other door, breaking it down two when opening it.

Room 7: Nearly identical to Room 5, this room has Yellow fungus all over the walls.  On the back wall, over the dais is a Roman mosaic depicting a rich man's possessions.  Most prominent is a depiction of a large wooden chest.  The mosaic looks like it has been relocated here in contemporary times.

The latch of the chest is a button that can be pressed to open this part of the wall.  It is trapped with a poisoned needle, such that if a player pushes it with their finger, they will be poisoned.  Inside the compartment is gold coinage, apparently from the middle ages.

Room 8: The party returns to room 4 and goes down the long left corridor.  The corridor ends in steps, descending into a stone amphitheater.  The amphitheater has 3 levels and a total of 20 exits!  You can make out strange animal footprints on the bottom.  Claw marks are clearly visible, but they seem too large for any urban animals.

Room 9: The party tries the first exit on their left on the top level.  It leads to a long natural corridor with a side passage.  There are little niches along the side, that may or may not be natural.

Room 10: The small side passage ends, covered from the outside with piles of wood.  The party pushes them over, revealing a basement.

Room 11: The passage splits into 3.  There is a body here: perhaps a few years dead.  He wears a chainmail shirt under a modern coat, now shredded.  Underneath the body is a silver-plated German P38 pistol with the image of a hand with a 7-pointed star inside, imprinted on both sides.  It is loaded with silver bullets.

Room 12: The party tries one of the branches, revealing a secret passage to a small, very cluttered basement.  Suddenly, the door above opens carefully and two Russian soldiers enter quietly, holding lanterns and rifles, stopping in surprise at the top of the steps when they see the party.

Impression

The generation is pretty fast, but I think I need a player who will map and take notes, to make it practical.  Otherwise it may be too much work for the DM during the session.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the balance.  I'd like more clues, traps, and strange things than actual denizens.  There are denizens, but they are few and furtive and the party will really have to explore before they meet them.  Overall, I'd like to give an atmosphere of mystery and fear: What is this labyrinth under the city?  Who or what has been here and what were they doing?  Why is the local citizenry afraid to explore their basements too much?

Chief Quartermaster Ltn. Yuri Leonov

Following last session where the party met Chief Quartermaster Ltn. Yuri Leonov, next session, the officer will make the party the following offer:

The party can give-in equipment for credit(in Rubles):

• Russian arms for 80% of value
• German/Polish arms for 40% of value

Likewise, they can buy equipment from him with the credit.  The chance of him having a particular item from the list on a given day are:

• Russian-made 90%
• German-made 50%
• Polish-made 10%
• Heavy-equipment on a case-per-case basis

Similarly, the party can redeem their credit for cash(Rubles) at a rate of 50% it's value.

Polish Resistance: Expanded Equipment List

I previously listed the starting equipment for Polish Resistance, but now here is the expanded equipment list, including many arms that can only be won through play:

.	Name	Type	Conceal	DMG/Ammo	Mag	ROF	Range	Cost
.	Club Mel L 1d6 Free	MEL	L	1d6				Free
.	Light Knife Mel P 1d6/2 10	MEL	P	1d6/2				10
.	Heavy Knife Mel P 1d6 25	MEL	P	1d6				25
.	Bayonet knife Mel P 1d6(+2 when attached) 30	MEL	P	1d6				30
.	Axe Mel J 2d6+3 35	MEL	J	2d6+3				35
.	Brass Knuckles Mel L 1d6+2 10	MEL	L	1d6+2				10
.	Sledgehammer Mel N 4d6 20	MEL	N	4d6				20
.	Szabla(cavalry sword)Mel N 2d6+2 50	MEL	N	2d6+2				50
.	Pitchfork	MEL	N	1d6				15
.	Crossbow	Ex	N	3d6	1	1	150m	120
.	Longbow	Ex	N	2d6+1	12	1	50m	150
.	Nagant M1895	P	P	1d6+2(7.62x38R)	7	1	50m	100
.	TT-30	P	P	1d6+2(7.62x25T)	8	2	50m	150
.	Vis Pistol	P	P	2d6+1(9mm)	8	2	50m	300
.	Walther P38	P	P	2d6+1(9x19mmP)	8	2	50m
.	KIS	SMG	J	2d6+1(9mmLuger)	32	20	150m	350
.	Błyskawica	SMG	J	2d6+1(9x19Para)	32	32	150m	400
.	Mors	SMG	L	2d6+1(9x19Para)	32	32	150m	500
.	MP 40	SMG	J	2d6+1(9x19mmP)	32	32	150m
.	PPD-40	SMG	L	1d6+2(7.62x25T)	25/71	43	150m
.	PPSh-41	SMG	L	1d6+2(7.62x25T)	35/71	48	150m
.	MG 34	HVY(machine gun)	N	6d6(7.62x57mmM)	50/75/250	45	400m
.	Degtyaryov(DG)	HVY(machine gun)	HVY(machine gun)	6d6(7.62x54mm)	47	30	400m
.	Ckm wz.30	HVY(machine gun)	HVY(machine gun)	d6+16(7.92x57mmM)	250	25	400m
.	DShk HMG	HVY(machine gun)	HVY(machine gun)	5d10(12.7x108mm)	50	32	450m
.	Winchester 1912	SHT	N	4d6(12Gg)	5	1	50m	450
.	Karabin wz.98a	Rif(b)	N	6d6+1(7.92x57mmM)	5	1	400m	450
.	Mosin/Nagant	Rif(b)	N	6d6(7.62x54mmR)	5	1	400m	500
.	Lee-Enfield	Rif(b)	N	6d6+1(.303Mk VII)	10	1	400m	550
.	Browning wz.1928	Rif	N	6d6+1(7.92x57mmM)	20	20	400m	600
.	Karabiner 98k	Rif(b)	N	6d6+1(8x57mm IS)	5	1	400m
.	Zf-41 1.5X telescopic site for Karabiner 98k: +3 med/long/extreme	Rif(accessory)
.	Gewehr 43	Rif	N	6d6+1(8x57mm IS)	10	2	400m
.	StG 44	Rif(b)	N	5d6+2(8x33mm K)	30	30	400m
.	WZ-35	Rif(Anti-tank)	N	4d10AP(7.92x107mm)	4	1	400m	1000
.	PTRD	Rif(Anti-tank)	N	6d10AP(14.5x114mm)	1	1	450m
.	PTRD-41	Rif(Anti-tank)	N	6d10AP(14.5x114mm)	5	1	450m
.	Flamethrower	HVY	N	2d10+1d10+1d6	10	1	50m
.	Stick Grenade(C)	HVY	P	5/7d6(15m)	1	1	10m x body
.	Grenade(F)	HVY	P	4d6(40m)	1	1	10m x body	30
.	Grenade(C)	HVY	P	5/7d6(15m)	1	1	10m x body	30
.	Dynamite	HVY	J	6d6/kg				30/kg
.
.	Ammo
.	7.62 Pistol(100) 15
.	9mm Pistol(50) 15
.	12 Gg(12) 15
.	7.92/7.62/.303 Rifle(100) 40
.	7.92x107mm(12) 20
.	Arrows(12) 24
.	Bolts(12) 30
.
.
.	Armor	Covers	SP
.	Aviation Flack Jacket Torso 10SP		10
.	Heavy Leather Jacket	Arms,Torso	4					50
.	Steel Helmet		14					80
.
.	Clothes
.	Pants 20
.	Top 15
.	Jacket 35
.	Shoes 25
.	Glasses 50
.	Jewelry 10-100
.
.	Other Cost
.	Donkey 70
.	Mule 100
.	Riding Horse 200
.	First Aid Kit 10
.	Medikit 50
.	Rations 150/week
.	Rope 2/ft
.	Gasmask 50
.	Magnetic Compass 10
.	Binoculars 70
.	Lantern 10
.	Kerosene 5(1hour)

Polish Resistance: Session 6

As opposed to the technical-problems in Session 5, in Session 6 everything just ran like clockwork.  In part, I think this was due to the players getting used to the game.  In part I think that my sandbox reached a certain level of maturity.  In any case, by the end of the session, the players achieved their goal of reaching the Russian-occupied city of Sandomierz, much faster than I had anticipated.  A lot happened in this session so I'll try and break it down rather than give a full summary.

Reduced Lineup

August 29, 1944, the session started off with the party returning to the village of Lipnik.  Their their NPC companions, Jurec and Ludmilla bid them farewell and their PC medical doctor, Leora, stayed on to tend the wounded, promising to rejoin them as fast as she could.  As such, the two brawny boys, Andrei and Shmengy, set-off alone with their horses and a donkey.

Random Events/Encounters

As I said, a lot happened this session.  I had a lot of fun with this, generating almost 30 random encounters and events over the 3 hour session, including:

• German Armor
• Russian Scouts
• Russian planes
• 4 zombies little girls
• Civilians
• Various destroyed civilian and military equipment

I also used the Luck mechanic a lot to answer player questions about various details.

Player-Driven Action

A big part of why I generated so many events/encounters was that the players seem to have figured out how to get what they want out of the setting.  They played very cautious most of the time, hiding, traveling off the main road, masquerading as German troops, and generally not getting sidetracked from their goal of reaching Sandomierz.

The one random event they spent the most time on was, while crossing some empty fields, they stumbled on the remnants of a tank battle.  They immediately decided this as a low-risk opportunity for looting and the second tank they checked was found to be in pretty good condition.  This was when they took one of the session's bigger risks--Andrei rode back to Lipnik with the horses to fetch Jurec, in the hope that he could get the tank back in working-order, while Shmengy continued to loot alone.  But the risk paid-off, and by evening the 3 were siphoning gas and would soon be ready to drive-off(though none of them knew how to drive a tank!)

At that point, I rolled up a German patrol, in the form of three halftracks with almost 20 troops!  The PCs decided not to risk losing their hard-earned tank and took advantage of the dark to surprise their enemies with grenades and automatic weapons. 

Spoils of War

The party's ambush went their way, and destroyed the small halftrack, captured one of the large ones, while the third got away.  They lost their horses in the fray, but by the end of the session had captured a lot of materials, including:

• Two working tanks(one Jurec drove back to Lipnik)
• A blood-splattered, but functional halftrack(8-seater)
• German Halftrack driver(prisoner)
• Numerous SMGs and ammo
• An automatic pistol
• Numerous grenades
• A German sniper rifle
• A few flack-jackets
• A tire-iron
• A German tank crew uniform
• A Polish citizen's ID card
• Bribe money(from a polish citizen, while disguised as a German tank crew)
• A Russian flag to wave at Russian anti-tank crews while riding around in their Panzer
• Probably other stuff that I forgot

Clues

I also got to use the clue generator twice.  It yielded:

• Program from a German Officer's Ball in Opatow, including name and rank of various German officers
• A small stone stature, shaped like a hand with a seven-pointed star on the palm

Objective Achieved

On August 31, 1944, the party finally drove in to Sandomierz with their Panzer, towing the half-track.  They were directed to the head Quartermaster, to whom they donated the vehicles.  In exchange for their contribution to the war-effort, he promised to recommend them to Field Marshal Vladimir Yurlovich, head of the Russian Army, and he also gave them the use of a confiscated civilian car.

I think that next session, the Quartermaster will offer to take their extra guns/grenades in exchange for credit, which they can use to buy food/ammo and other materials from him.

Polish Resistance Game Art

Here's some game art for Polish Resistance.  Enjoy!

Polish Resistance Members

Young partisan cleaning his weapon

Partisans marching through liberated town

Ragtag gang of partisans

Homemade weaponry

Allies

Karlotta Stepanski, a spy for the Resistance, embedded as a secretary in the German Civil Authority

A Russian sniper displaying his weapon

Enemies

High Inspector for the SS

Halftrack similar to the ones the party has been following

 

A German Ace pilot

Zombies

  Civilians

Dr. Gustav Sporer, an Archaeologist at the local Univerity

 

Muirne Adamski, a lounge singer at the German Officers' club